Parfums MDCI
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The Italian red mandarin cuts through with a bright, almost blood-orange intensity, immediately tempered by saffron's peppery, slightly medicinal spice. It's arresting and slightly austere—there's no softening here, just a confident declaration of intent that already hints at the leather waiting beneath.
By the second hour, the rose and cypriol emerge like a veil being drawn across the brightness, and the composition pivots toward something genuinely sophisticated. The white honey adds a subtle, almost animalic warmth that prevents the floral from ever becoming delicate, whilst the iris creates a subtle powdery texture that makes everything feel more complex, more lived-in. The leather, which was merely suggested in the opening, now becomes the fragrance's backbone.
What remains is a sophisticated embrace of tonka, vanilla, and cedar woven through a musky, leathery base—the oud providing a barely-perceptible woody dryness that keeps the sweetness from ever becoming cloying. This final phase feels intimate rather than projected, a fragrance that's settled completely into the skin and asks to be discovered through proximity rather than announced to a room.
Cuir Cavalier arrives not as a whisper but as a deliberate announcement—a fragrance that knows precisely what it wants to communicate and brooks no argument. The initial saffron and Italian red mandarin create a spiced citrus opening that's immediately aristocratic, yet the leather accord (a commanding 76%) never allows this to become merely sunny or cheerful. Instead, there's a restrained elegance here, the kind worn by someone who doesn't need to try terribly hard.
What makes Cuir Cavalier genuinely compelling is how Nathalie Feisthauer orchestrates the interplay between its floral and leather elements. The rose doesn't arrive perfume-counter pink; rather, it emerges tempered by cypriol's smoky, slightly woody character, creating a rose that feels almost dusty, as though glimpsed through aged leather. White honey adds a subtle animalic sweetness without tipping into gourmand territory, whilst iris grounds everything with a subtle powder that prevents the composition from becoming too honeyed.
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4.5/5 (84)